A Short Play About My This American Life Live Screening Recap

Let's pretend that you and I are having this little chat in some charming Chicago sidewalk cafe...

You: "So, you went to the live screening of "This American Life" last night. How was that?"

Me: "Oh, it was good. I liked it. Ira Glass was very charming. It was neat seeing him mixing the show, as he recorded it, adjusting volume controls and whatnot. He was recording the show live in front of roughly 1,000 people. That must be nice. 1,000 people show up to see you do what you do. I would like to do that someday."

You: "How full was it?"

Me: "Pretty full. Everything but the two front most rows were packed. I thought that it was funny to look around and see how many young hipster girls had their sensible shoulder-length haircuts and their bookworm glasses on. The guys, by and large, were all thin, bespectacled and bearded. Which was sort of interesting. There's a definite look for the 'This American Life' demographic. Just as sure as you're going to see flannel at the tractor pull, you're going to see girls in black skirts and interesting leggings at a 'TAL' event."

You: "Yes, yes, Mr. Observant. Tell me about the screening. What else did they do?"

Me: "Well, they showed clips from the upcoming season of the tv show on Showtime. There was one clip, showing inner-city Philadelphia boys who ride horses in the parks and the city. That segment is particularly lovely. The choice of the shots that they use to show the world around these horse riders is fascinating. One shot, of this MASSIVE tree in a park, as the horses gallop past is so beautiful that you could frame it. Metropolitan Philadelphia was framed perfectly in the middle of the shot, in the far distance. So beautiful."

You: "What was your favorite part?"

Me: "I really liked the new Chris Ware cartoon. As soon as it started, Ira introduced his friends Robert and Tamar and I thought, 'That's got to be Robert Krulwich from Radio Lab and his wife Tamar. Sure enough, it was. I recognized their voices immediately.' I felt like a bit of a public radio insider for knowing that. The cartoon is also very funny and quite charming. A nice use of illustration to show the story that they're telling. I really liked it."

You: "Any other final thoughts about it?"

Me: "Honestly, it was a surreal experience watching something live broadcast on the gigantic canvas of the movie screen. Occasionally there would be a glitch, be it an errant cut to a camera showing nothing or an audio cue that wouldn't play properly and I would become accutely aware that I was watching a live broadcast. The sublime beauty of This American Life, both the radio show and the tv show really came through. The piece with an actual Iraqi touring the US with an 'Ask an Iraqi a Question' booth was heart-breaking. Nothing is more powerful than watching one of the brain-dead heartland Republican hobbyists spout off Fox News Talking Points to a man who grew up in Iraq and knows more than this fat, clueless, old man could ever know. The man in the booth just sat there and listened to this old guy go on and on about the freedoms of iraq and then he definitively poked holes in everything that the old man had said. Even more depressing is the fact that the old man would walk away from that conversation, as misinformed as he was when he sat down at the booth. His opinions inviolate against any amount of evidence. That's depressing, because it's the sedentary, lethargic, ignorant people of this country that elected the last president and will be determining the next president."

You: "I love it when you get all worked up about politics. Take me home and make love to me, right now, Mr. Political!"

Me: "Waiter? Check please!"

THE END.